again by demanding the speaker -- actually harry reid from nevada come up with 60 votes to move forward the vote. and senator rand paul put a hold on president obama's pick. joining me now is salon's joan walsh and washington post's dana milbank. they can't beat these people so they're doing this obstructing. they're trying to smear this guy. they know he's going to be secretary of defense. there is absolutely no purpose in what cruz is doing except trying to move he's more obnoxious than neocons are. they're just messing around with the government of the united states, i think. >> they're messing around in a particularly ugly way. i mean, ted cruz, this is ugly stuff, chris. and the good news for marco rubio is he makes rubio look like a statesman. and john mccain god bless him is rising to the occasion. and i haven't had many nice things to say about mccain in the last few years. it is separating out the attack dogs and the really vicious people from the people who are merely obstructionists. anyway, marco rubio missed a big moment last night. it's not about the drink of water. it com

ban? >> i think harry reid will give them the same advice i give them in private which is when you agree with the president, you should say so. and when you disagree with the president -- >> don't buckle from pressure from the white house. >> we have seen mark pryor has come out in opposition. i suspect you will see a couple others, but i would just juxtapose that against what's happening on the other side. the reason we're starting in the senate first is because john boehner and the leaders on the house side can't get anything done. they can't get a majority of their own party to support the speaker's own -- >> do you realize how their strategy could work. you and the senate will be the first cut. you are the first guys going over the top in world war 1 blowing the whistles, cutting through the con ser tina wire. you guys could get mowed down. i'm thinking about pryor, begich, landrieu, haguen, tim johnson. they all have to vote up or down. what happens is the house which is run by republicans, they don't have to take on issues like that because they've already been beaten. >> her

see what sticks, but he also has a problem on the issue like guns that harry reid is not sitting up champing at the bit to do gun legislation coming out of the senate, by the way. so -- >> but the american public, michael, is. >> well, we know what the american public wants and what the united states senate and congress wants is sometimes two different things. that's the point. the president is trying to triangulate these interests to put his agenda out there to put the republicans on the defense to cobble together what he needs from the democrats to get something done. meanwhile, we still have unemployment at 7.9% and 22 million americans unemployed. >> michael, you don't have and the president doesn't have but i have a jobs program. rebuild america. big time. we do it in our ads. it's called lean forward. >> but how does he do it when he shuts down the job -- >> 3% interest rate right now. you can borrow the money at practically nothing to get the job done. >> that's right. >> try to get the loan, chris. try to get the loans. >> you get a 30-year loan at 3%, would have no impact o

the proposal. i don't see the bill. is harry reid presenting that? >> let's take a look at this latest polling. americans are nearly three times more likely -- rather than emphasizing the country by a five point margin they think obama is focused on the unity over partisanship. when we asked whether americans agree with what republicans are proposing to do nearly 6 in 10 disagree with the republicans. nobody is mother teresa here. nobody thinks they're sticking their neck out any further than they have to, but why do the republicans -- why is the brand of your party so sticky right now? >> because we have messaged this horribly. >> what's the message they're not getting out? >> it's been all over the place. >> what is the right message? >> the right message is to really -- as we should have said from the beginning focus on how to create jobs in the country and tie that to spending. we've not done that. we've not given a way forward that really lays out exactly what the cost is to this economy for the level of spending that we've been doing. >> i'm going back to -- >> can i make one fin